IZAC, EDOUARD VICTOR MICHEL - Medal of Honor Recipient

Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy.

Place and date: Aboard
German submarine U-90 as prisoner of war, 21 May 1918. Entered service
at: Illinois. Born: 18 December 1891, Cresco, Howard County, lowa. Citation:
When the U.S.S. President Lincoln was attacked and sunk by the German submarine
U-90, on 21 May 1918, Lt. Izac was captured and held as a prisoner on board
the U-90 until the return of the submarine to Germany, when he was confined
in the prison camp. During his stay on the U-90 he obtained information
of the movements of German submarines which was so important that he determined
to escape, with a view to making this information available to the U.S.
and Allied Naval authorities. In attempting to carry out this plan, he
jumped through the window of a rapidly moving train at the imminent risk
of death, not only from the nature of the act itself but from the fire
of the armed German soldiers who were guarding him. Having been recaptured
and reconfined, Lt. Izac made a second and successful attempt to escape,
breaking his way through barbed-wire fences and deliberately drawing the
fire of the armed guards in the hope of permitting others to escape during
the confusion. He made his way through the mountains of southwestern Germany,
having only raw vegetables for food, and at the end, swam the River Rhine
during the night in the immediate vicinity of German sentries.

This data was extracted from the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. Senate, Medal of Honor Recipients: 1863-1973 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973)